Old-school football key to postseason success

Either District 1 football is behind the times or it’s just really stubborn.

While top level football continues to evolve into the pass-happy, fan-friendly product, high school football in Southeastern Pennsylvania almost looks archaic at times.

But don’t blame the coaches. There are plenty of very ingenuitive coaches around the district. Not surprisingly, though, the ones who find themselves guiding their teams into late November and early December are those who refuse to let the essence of football die.

Run the ball and defend the run. It’s the most cliche answer you can get when a coach explains the path to postseason success.

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And even though he’s in his first playoff run as a head coach, West Chester Henderson’s Steve Mitten has been through enough rodeos to understand how to prolong a season.

“We want to play tough defense, and that’s been our idea the past however many years,” said Mitten, who took over for longtime Warriors coach Joe Walsh after running his defense for eight years. “If you play tough defense and well enough on offense, with good special teams, you’ll be in a lot of games.”

The Warriors’ defense has done that all year, giving up double digit points in just four of 11 games. They surrender a Chester County-best 8 points per game, and about 72 less rushing yards a game than for themselves.

Henderson will face top-seeded Pottsgrove tonight in the District 1 Class AAA semifinal, and hopes to continue the pace it started last week against Springfield (Delco), outgaining the Cougars 279-105 on the ground. In Class AAAA, the trend is just as evident.

In the eight games played last week in the 4A bracket, seven of the winners outrushed the losers -- Garnet Valley was the only loser to have more rushing yards. The winners ran the ball, on average, five times more and for 120 yards more than the losers.

Against No. 1 Downingtown East, No. 16 Wissahickon found the Cougars’ Achilles’s heel by running the ball 53 times for 305 yards, good for a plus-147 in rushing yards.

In the 3A bracket, where teams have to rely more heavily on two-way players, a physical style of play can be even more valuable.

“What we started to notice against Springfield was that some of their guys on offense were also playing defense, and they were becoming limited because of the physical beating they took on offense,” Mitten said.

The Warriors, maybe more than any team around, are not afraid to come up and stick ball carriers with fury, and then let them know about it. Maybe that rubs opponents the wrong way, and sometimes even Mitten himself, but the swagger carries over. Confidence follows.

“We’re pretty confident in each other,” Henderson middle linebacker Adam Weaver said. “We know what each guy is going to do. As a team we’re all confident that we can execute our jobs to the fullest.”

Weaver is the tough leader in the middle of everything. A second-year starter, Weaver goes where the ball goes. He certainly has help, with Matt Eichman and Bryan White up front, Derek Matonti and Chris Mitten along side at the outside linebacker positions and Phil Mitten and Spencer Rymiszewski in the secondary.

It is going to be quite the rebuilding process next season, as all of the aforementioned names, minus White, graduate. But for now they play for the next week.

The physicality isn’t relegated solely to the defense. Henderson’s sizable offensive line and downhill option scheme equate to a ball-control way of life. Rymiszweski has run to the forefront, carrying the ball 120 times this season for 944 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“I have a lot of teammates that play both ways,” Rymiszweski said. “We like to run the ball physically. With (fullbacks) Derek Matonti and Garrett Girafalco, and our line is great and they work so hard in practice. They’re so physical and that gives us a chance to make plays and also gives us a chance to run someone over, as well.”

Of the last 10 District 1 champs, North Penn has been it six times, Ridley twice, Pennsbury and Neshaminy both once. All four teams are notoriously run-first, with the passing game a way to keep opponents honest.

As the postseason endures, the fact of the matter will remain, whoever runs the ball and defends it better will likely be moving on. That’s why for Coatesville fans, its plus-246 yards in the rushing category last Friday against Unionville is a great sign for a predominantly pass-first offense during the regular season.

Against Pottsgrove, Henderson will be seeing the Pioneer Athletic Conference version of itself. As a playoff-hardened team that will hand the ball off much more than throw it, Pottsgrove will hope to out-Henderson Henderson.

You know with the Warriors, there will definitely be a fight.

“Every week it’s enforced from the coaching staff to hit and play phyiscal, hard-nose run defense,” Rymiszweski said. “Coach Mitten likes to play old school football, and it’s been that way the last decade or so. We’re looking forward to doing that against Pottsgrove.”